On The Road to Yellowstone

T O

Y E L L O W S T O N E

2017 Free Travel Guide to Powell and the Greater Yellowstone Area

Discover the history of Heart Mountain

generated at BeQRious.com

Where 14,000 Japanese men, women and children were interned during World War II.

A museum preserves their stories.

Your future, our focus

The perfect location

TO ATTEND COLLEGE. CHOOSE FROM OVER 70 DEGREE PROGRAMS!

NWC.EDU/PROGRAMS 

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NWC IS AN EOI

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at the Heart of Powell on 14A!

Car Wash

• Full-service deli • Package liquor department • Open 7 days/week

r! e Cente & Lub

• Fuel Center • Lube Center • Touchless Car Wash

www.blairsmarket.com

331 West Coulter • Powell • 307-754-3122 PAGE 2 »

ON THE ROAD

What’s

INSIDE

Going Boating or Camping?

Call ahead and order Chester Chicken plus all the good stuff from our deli to make a complete picnic!

WYOld West PAGES 8-9

True to the super market concept —

WE HAVE IT ALL! Many shops in one giant store:

Queen Bee Honey PAGE 12

Cody Nite Rodeo PAGE 26

The World’s First National Park PAGE 30

Come check out our BRAND NEW entire refrigeration remodel and the UPDATED DELI.

MANY SHOPS IN ONE GIANT STORE!

If you need: • Pillows • Bedding • Washcloths • Socks • Underwear or Automotive Supplies WE’VE GOT THEM! • A Baby Section • Clothes • Toys • Cards • Magazines • Picture Frames • Rubbermaid items WE’VE GOT THEM • School Supplies • Office Supplies • Shavers • Wedding Gifts • Crafts for the road or home • Flowers • Kitchenware • Hardware ...

WE’VE GOT IT ALL!

• Produce • Groceries • Meat • Bakery • Hot & Cold Deli • Picnic Supplies • Ice/Soda • Crafts • Sundries • C.R. Package Liquor • V&S Variety • Western Union • Stamps • Fax Machine • Redi-Cash • ATM Plus ** Also try out our new photo kiosk capable of making prints from Facebook

Powell Tribune Publication

128 South Bent, Powell, WY, 307-754-2221 www.powelltribune.com

About our cover

Tara Wagner of Cody captured this photo of Snow, a Yellowstone cub, near Cub Creek in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 2016.

9 EAST MAIN LOVELL, WY • 307-548-2224 STORE HOURS: Mon - Sat. 8 am to 8 pm | Sunday 9 am - 6 pm

Photo courtesy Tara Wagner

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 3

BIGHORN CANYON

A slice of the

Old West

For any traveler on U.S. Highway 14-A, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is a “must see” scenic wonder.

The park straddles the Big Horn River from just east of Lovell into Montana. A lake created

by Yellowtail Dam stretches more than 70 miles through the canyon.

Bighorn Canyon is administered by the National Park Service. A day pass into Bighorn Canyon is $5, and can be purchased at an automated fee machine when entering the area.

The Cal S. Taggart Visitor Center at U.S. Highway 14-A and U.S. Highway 310 in Lovell sells annual passes.

Boating, fishing and other water sports are at the heart of Bighorn Canyon’s offerings. A trip down the canyon between walls and spires towering 500 feet above the water is a spectacular experience. Boats may be launched at Kane off U.S. Highway 14-A, Horseshoe Bend and Barry’s Landing. Commercial boat rides are available.

Photo courtesy Bob Wick, BLM

At Devil’s Canyon overlook, visitors can get a dizzying view of the lake below.

The area is noted for Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. It is home to a unique band of horses descended from mustangs brought to the area by Spanish explorers.

Four historic ranch sites tell the story of early ranching and of colorful characters such as Caroline Lockhart, a writer who bought a ranch in the 1920s and operated it until age and health forced her from ranching life.

The park contains more than 25 miles of

hiking trails.

Camping is available in the park at developed and primitive sites. All campsites are first-come, first-served and no reservations are accepted.

Some campsites are free.

Ranger programs are offered on weekend evenings through the summer at Horseshoe Bend.

Information about Bighorn Canyon NRA is available through the area’s website at nps. gov/bica, or by contacting the visitor’s center in Lovell at 307-548-2251.

“Get Real!”

HONEY | CHOCOLATE | INGREDIENTS Visit Wyoming’s Only

Honey Candy Factory!

Celebrating 41 years ~ 1976 - 2017

244 East Main Street

Lovell, Wyoming PAGE 4 »

ON THE ROAD

Your Outdoor Adventure

On the Road TO YELLOWSTONE

One of the best things travelers will find on their 14-A adventure between Burgess Junction and Yellowstone National Park are two especially enjoyable stretches of the highway itself.

On the east end, from Burgess Junction across the top and down the Big Horn Mountains’ west face switchbacks to the bottom, is a drive that offers among the most breathtaking vistas to be found anywhere. But equally appealing — to driving enthusiasts and especially those in a sports car or astride a motorcycle — is the design of the road itself.

Initially named Wyoming Wonderland Way, a moniker that earned Powell resident Pat Deming a hundred bucks in a naming contest, the mountainous east end of U.S. Highway 14-A opened with a dedication ceremony on June 24, 1983.

During construction, all 57 miles of the route from Burgess Junction to Lovell, which took 19 years from start to completion, required 17 separate highway contracts and came with a price tag of $23.5 million. By itself, the 5.5 miles from bottom to top of the west face of the mountain near Lovell cost $11.5 million.

In the time it took for this marvelous feat of engineering and construction to be completed, three different governors had served the citizens of Wyoming.

The marvelous curves and grades make for a great driving experience — within the confines of the liberal speed limits, of course — whether going up or

coming down.

Signs on the serpentine downward course suggest lower gears and it’s solid advice. The brake pedal is best left alone on the descent except for a tap or two from time to time as needed. Let the transmission hold you back when descending and save the brakes in case you really, really need them.

Awaiting 14-A adventurers on the west end of their journey to Yellowstone National Park is a wide and smooth North Fork Highway.

Beginning at the Shoshone National Forest boundary west of Cody near the community of Wapiti, and continuing from there to Yellowstone’s East Gate, is a highway that required three independent phases of construction.

This piece of road is far less vertical and winding than its counterpart on the west slope of the Big Horns, and in fact climbs gently uphill to the East Gate of the park. People, campgrounds and guest lodges are much more in evidence, too, but don’t be fooled: the drive through Wapiti Valley to the tiny community of the same name, then on west through the Shoshone National Forest to Yellowstone, is home to fascinating rock formations, mountain river views, world-class wild trout fishing and an abundance of wildlife — from mountain blue birds to moose and grizzly bears — that are all second to none.

Enjoy the drive. U.S. Highway 14-A country has it all.

U.S. 14-A offers two great drives

Starts Here!

L OV E L L

A R E A

F E AT U R E S :

» Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area » Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range » Bighorn National Forest » FREE Camper Facilities » Three Town Parks - including picnic shelter and kiddie pool » Foster Gulch Golf Course » Veteran’s Memorial & Spectacular Murals » Public Swimming Pool » Main Street Shopping » Stunning Star Shows in August C E L E B R AT E H O M E T O W N H O L I DAYS

• Hyart Film Festival --------------------------June 15-17 • Lovell Mustang Days ------------------------June 19-24 • Big Horn Canyon Triathlon ----------------July 1 • Byron Days -----------------------------------July 7-8 • Cowley Pioneer Day-------------------------July 21-22 • Big Horn County Fair -----------------------July 31-Aug. 6 • Big Horn Races Half Marathon ----------- September 2 • Holiday Mingle ----------------------------- November 18

This challenging 18-hole layout is labeled a “must play!”

Northwest Wyoming’s

Call 307-548-7552

www.lovellchamber.com • email: lovellchamber1@gmail.com 287 E. Main, Lovell, WY 82431 Town of Lovell, 307-548-6551 • www.townoflovell.com

600 Hwy 114 - 6 miles east of Powell, WY - 307-754-7259 - www.powellgolfclub.org

Find us on Facebook

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 5

Tribune file photo by Toby Bonner

Powell Golf Club Up to par

What better way to break up the days in the car than a few whacks on the local golf course?

At Powell, golf is more than just another “local” layout. It’s golf designed to challenge and entertain the aficionados of the sport with two entirely different sides of an 18-hole course.

The back nine was redesigned and rebuilt in a massive makeover in 2003, and the vastly enlarged greens are a prime feature.

But the big greens are the singular distinguishing characteristic. Putting is a challenge.

The huge, undulating greens have three-putt written all over them. If that’s not enough, the well-placed and plentiful sand traps give the

golfer plenty to think about.

On the other side of the course, the front nine layout was completed in the mid-1990s and reflects the influence of present-day golf architecture.

It’s clearly a case of “welcome to target golf” on the front side, an outward circuit into desertlike sagebrush and rock country.

Even though water is very much at a premium in the upper rim of the valley, the course’s signature hole, No. 4, brings the wet stuff into play on a dramatic par 3. Golfers better hope the wind isn’t blowing.

The front side finishing hole, No. 9, is another

ZIPINTO

Open daily 8 a.m. to dusk

www.powellgolfclub.org • 307-754-7259 tantalizing test. A wide, usually downwind fairway beckons off the tee on this par 5. But to get to the large ninth green, the golfer is faced with a second-shot decision. A wide drainage ditch lurks some 140 yards from the green. Golfers must pick their poison: let ‘er rip and try to carry the ditch on the second shot, or play it close to the vest and lay up short.

The Powell Golf Club is a public course and welcomes non-member, green fee players. The complex includes a clubhouse, pro shop and a fleet of carts.

The Powell Golf Club sits 7 miles east of the City of Powell off Wyo. Highway 114.

YELLOWSTONE zipline

Located just minutes from the East Gate to Yellowstone National Park

Open Daily from June 15th to September 15th

www.ZipSG.com | (307) 587-3125 348 North Fork Highway | Cody, Wyoming PAGE 6 »

ON THE ROAD

We’re just down the road ...

The home of Northwest College has a progressive business climate, excellent shopping and dining, plus a visitors center to assist in travels and tour planning.

U P C O M I N G Lions Club Car Show------------------------------May 27 PHS Alumni Celebration Weekend------- June 23-24 Park County Fair------------------------------- July 25-29 Park County Fair Parade------------------------- July 30 Mounted Shooting------------------------- August 11-13 Art Festival-------------------------------------- August 19 Wings & Wheels------------------------------- August 19

E V E N T S

Homesteader Days------------------------- September 9 Powell O’Ween Treat Street----------------- October 31 Haunted Homesteader----------------------- October 31 Sample the Season------------------------- November 17 Shop Small Saturday---------------------- November 25 Country Christmas----------------------- December 1-2

Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce AND VISITORS CENTER

1 1 1 S O U T H DAY ST R E ET ~ P.O. B OX 814 • P O W E L L , W YO M I N G 82435 (307) 754-3494 • 1-800-325-4278 • FAX: (307) 754-3483 • www.powellchamber.org ~ info@powellchamber.org

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 7

Brewing Company In the heart of beautiful downtown Powell

Northwest Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin is a relentlessly beautiful high desert plateau with an unforgiving climate. Through hard work, and the miracle of irrigation, the region has become known for its choice barley crops which are grown by hard-working farmers on plots of land that sprawl across this otherwise arid land. Amidst it all, in the heart of beautiful downtown Powell — a mere 25 miles removed from the hustle and bustle of Cody — lies WYOld West Brewing Company, the Big Horn Basin’s preeminent purveyor of delicious craft beer.

WYOld West also offers a great menu of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and craft pizzas. Folks can choose from eight signature burgers as well as a buildyour-own option with 24 toppings and sauces.

Popular appetizers include street tacos and bone-in chicken wings. For

pizza, WYOld West features five local favorites on its daily house-made dough and a build-your-own option with 20 toppings and sauces to choose from.

“Each day of the week we offer a house-crafted soup and have a WWBC drink special from our locally famous mixologists,” said Jessica Laughlin, Front of House Manager with WYOld West.

The brewery’s Bangtail Brown Ale features a robust roasted malt character not typical of the brown ale style and is named for the legendary wild horses that roam the surrounding landscapes. Fans of hoppy beers gravitate toward G-Street Pale Ale, while those seeking lighter fare find something to love in the Harvest Golden Ale and Heart Mountain Hefeweizen — the latter of which is named for the monolithic mountain landmark that stands between Powell and Cody.

The recently-released Trapper IPA was created with three different varieties of hops grown by the Northwest College Agriculture Department. The three varieties of NWC » Cont’d

WYOld West Brewing Company in downtown Powell is dedicated to creating quality food and delicious craft beer. Tribune photos by Carla Wensky PAGE 8 »

ON THE ROAD

Ten WYOld West beers ....

BREWED IN HOUSE • Harvest Gold Ale • Heart Mountain Hefeweizen • Trapper IPA • WWBC IPA • Native Red IPA • G-Street Pale Ale • Honey Rye Ale • Belgian Red Ale • Kilted Cowboy Scottish Ale • Bangtail Brown Ale

» Cont’d hops — Columbus, Chinook and Centennial — worked well together, said Jason Courtney, head brewer at WYOld West.

“Our favorite of the batch was the Centennial to give a kind of nice, citrusy aroma,” he said. “The Chinook provided a nice, piney background, and we used the Columbus for bittering, the backbone to balance the malt.”

WWBC continues to churn out unique recipes to keep customers coming back for more. The brewery unveiled the wildly popular Native Red IPA last spring, and followed it up with a hearty coconut porter to satiate the demands of dark beer drinkers. Heading into the busy summer months, the Honey Rye Ale will no doubt help quench the thirst of weary travelers.

“We also do a variety of housemade sangrias that we rotate through,” Laughlin said.

WYOld West Brewing Company was established in 2015 by a group of local partners dedicated to creating a

premier food and drink establishment in the heart of downtown Powell. The business purchased a former appliance showroom in 2014 and began the long process of creating the stunning facility under the guidance of local contractor Andy Griffin of Griffin Built, Inc. Completed in phases, WWBC opened its doors to the public in March 2015 as a pub only. In October 2015, work was completed on the restaurant and family-friendly dining room.

In early 2016, work was completed on the brewery, and its original four beers were revealed at a massive grand opening event.

WWBC has plans in the works to distribute its brews to select locations around the Big Horn Basin, however, the downtown Powell location remains the go-to spot for those who wish to sample all this burgeoning brewery has to offer.

As you pass through the area, be sure to drop by WWBC for a pint or two, a bite to eat and a growler full of choice ale to take with you on your travels.

A variety of pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, soups, salads and appetizers are prepared fresh in WYOld West Brewing Company’s kitchen.

Tribune photo by Carla Wensky

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307.764.6200 • 221 N Bent Street in Downtown Powell

M-F: 11am-2pm, 4pm-10:30pm • Sat: 11am-10:30pm • Sun 11am-7pm ON THE ROAD » PAGE 9

Powell Aquatic Center

Tribune file photo

by Kevin Kinzley

Features fun for the family

Located in Homesteader Park just off U.S. Highway 14-A, the Powell Aquatic Center features two pools. The new facility, completed in 2010, has a leisure pool with a beach entry, splash pad, continuous river, PEPSI water walk, mountain slide and bench area for relaxing. An eight-lane pool

ranges from 4 to 12 feet deep with plenty of room for exercise and enjoyment.

The aquatic center is open from 5:30 a.m.8 p.m. Monday through Friday; noon-5 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday.

Daily admission to the pool is $6 for adults

Accommodations & Fine Dining!

(22-59), $5 for seniors (60 and over) and $5 for youth (3-21).

Punch passes and memberships also are available.

For more information, visit the center’s website at www.powellaquatics.com or call 307-754-0639.

“THE CORNER STORE WITH A TOUCH OF THE PAST.”

Cheeseburgers • Old-Fashioned Malts Root Beer Floats & Ice Cream Sodas are all-time favorites at our in store

SODA FOUNTAIN

Lunch Hours: Monday-Friday, 11am-2pm Dinner Hours: Monday-Saturday, 5pm-close

“The Best Steak in Town!”

First & Clark Streets • Powell, Wyoming • 307-754-2226

PAGE 10 »

ON THE ROAD

& Espresso

140 North Bent Street • Powell • 754-2031 Soda Fountain Hours: M-F: 10am-2pm ~ A Great Place for Lunch!

O F T H E P O W E L L VA L L E Y.

N

estled between the picturesque Big Horn and Absaroka mountain ranges of Northwest Wyoming, Powell is a community historically rooted in agriculture. Early in the 20th century, homesteaders around Powell were rewarded with life-sustaining irrigation water when the United States Reclamation Service established the dams and canals of the Shoshone Irrigation Project. Today, what was once a barren, desert-like landscape has been transformed into fields and pastures capable of producing a rich variety of crops, forages and livestock.

Farmers around Powell excel at producing malt barley, edible beans, sugar beets and alfalfa; while local ranchers proudly raise cattle, horses and sheep, sustainably and efficiently.

The Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce can help you learn more about the agriculture industry in and around Powell by customizing a tour for you or your group. Learn about area crops, livestock production, irrigation systems and more from area farmers and ranchers. Here at the Chamber we offer customized agriculture tours for groups and organizations. Area farmers and ranchers who participate in our agro tourism ventures realize the value that consumers place on visiting rural settings where food is produced, and they strive to provide tours that are informative, pleasurable and inspiring.

Powell was incorporated in 1909, having been named after Major John Wesley Powell who was one of the first to explore the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and former Director of the U.S. Powell Valley Geological Survey. Powell is only 20 minutes from historic Cody, Wyoming. Contact us and let us arrange a customized tour for you!

Chamber of Commerce 111 South Day, Powell, Wyoming

307-754-3494 www.powellchamber.org

Customized tours for groups, and organizations Tour area farms and ranches - See area crops, livestock production, irrigation systems and more ON THE ROAD Âť PAGE 11

Creating candy from local honey Making a myriad of honey-sweetened candies starts with tiny bees buzzing around local alfalfa fields.

The hardworking honeybees help Queen Bee Gardens in Lovell create millions of candies each year. Using honey as the main ingredient, the possibilities abound: Caramel, almond coconut, creamy fudge, pecan pearl, strawberry lemonade and flavors still in the works.

Like bees in a hive, members of the Zeller

family each have specific tasks in operating two businesses — Zeller & Sons Honey Company, which oversees beehives and honey production, and Queen Bee Gardens, which makes and distributes honey candies. Queen Bee Gardens is located at 244 East Main St. in Lovell.

From the base of the Big Horn Mountains to the North Fork of the Shoshone River, the Zellers have about 3,000 colonies of bees in the region.

Gene Zeller explains how a machine works at Queen Bee Gardens in Lovell during a Powell Valley Community Education Tour. The Zeller family has operated the business for decades.

Tribune file photo by Carla Wensky

The family’s honey business began in the 1940s when Clarence and Bessie Zeller started producing honey on their farm near Lovell, using the wild bees Clarence’s father gathered from the Shoshone River bottoms.

Using an old family recipe from Bessie’s ancestors in Scotland, the Zellers started making honey candy in 1976. Soon the family was developing new candy recipes.

Today, the business has grown to include dozens of candy varieties, shipping to all 50 states and a few international countries.

In the field of honey-sweetened candies, the Zellers are pioneers.

“We make everything with honey,” said Jason Zeller, who works at Queen Bee Gardens.

Clarence and Bessie have passed away, but their descendants continue to operate the family businesses, each taking on different responsibilities.

Von Zeller works as a beekeeper and Gene Zeller leads the operation of the Queen Bee Gardens.

Working together, the Zellers keep family business traditions alive while also trying new methods for flavors of honey.

“We’re always experimenting,” said Jason Zeller.

The biggest part of the business is selling to stores that re-sell the candy. With honey as the main sweetener, the candy often appeals to health food stores.

Just off Hwy 14A • 307-754-0639 POOL HOURS: In Homesteader Park in Powell Monday-Friday

Dine in or take out.

Dive in!

Have an Ice Cold Cerveza and enjoy the

Best Authentic Mexican Food in Yellowstone country!

5:30am to 8pm Saturday-Sunday Noon to 5pm

Obstacle Course • Leisure Pool • Lazy River • Lap Pool

Atendidos Por La Familia Acevedo

112 North Bent Street ~ Downtown Powell ~ 307-754-8085

www.powellaquatics.com

We know it can be quite an ordeal giving your dog a bath at home;

water, soap, and dog hair everywhere!

self service dog wash

Dapper Dog Self-Service Dog Wash is similar to a car wash or laundromat, only customized for your pooch!

No Appointment necessary! Our “do-it-yourself dog wash” is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

925 Road 8 • Powell, WY • 7am-8:30pm (7 days a week) Find us on Facebook

PAGE 12 »

ON THE ROAD

CODY

POWELL

736 Yellowstone Ave

855 E Coulter

307-527-7819

307-754-9588

PIZZAHUT.COM ON THE ROAD » PAGE 13

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O.E. Bever and his son, Jim, are pictured in a potato field circa 1924 in this hand-colored photograph. They were homesteaders east of Powell.

Photo courtesy Homesteader Museum

HOMESTEADER MUSEUM

Best hidden treasure’

‘

in Wyoming

From the first settlers who vowed to “turn the desert green,” to the modern-day residents who populate the valley — Homesteader Museum offers a look through the ages.

Built with logs from the Pahaska Tepee area, the Homesteader Museum, just off U.S. Highway 14-A in Powell, houses a collection that chronicles the history of the Powell Valley.

Founded in 1968 and encompassing more than 10,000 square feet of space, Homesteader Museum features numerous vintage displays including a country school, medical/dentist offices, military, hunting and fishing areas, to name a few.

Beginning mid-summer, “Fortitude & Determination,” an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of homesteading on the Frannie/ Deaver Division of the Shoshone Reclamation Project will be displayed until November.

The museum’s permanent collection of historical memorabilia also includes a photographic history of the stunning U.S. Shoshone Reclamation Project which brought water to the Powell Flat via the Buffalo Bill Dam and an intricate canal system.

An exhibit spotlighting the story surrounding the legendary outlaw Earl Durand is a continuing

307-754-9481

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fascination.

The museum also features two homestead cabins from 1913 and 1945. The popular renovated buildings offer a firsthand glimpse of the early settlers’ lifestyle.

A second museum building is chock full of antique equipment and the bright red caboose on the grounds is a treat for kids to explore.

More activities for children are available, including a Hands-On area and “I SPY” games.

The Homesteader Days Festival on Sept. 9 promises fun for the entire family, featuring kids games, pony cart rides, fiddlers and car, tractor and truck show. The popular live pie auction will return to this year’s festival.

Folks can also learn more about Powell’s past on a historic walk and see historic machinery and watch a blacksmith demonstration during the festival.

This autumn, Homesteader Museum will be home to the Haunted Homesteader during Powell’s Powelloween Halloween celebration.

The Homesteader Museum is open, free to the public, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday from June through Labor Day.

homesteadermuseum.com

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ON THE ROAD » PAGE 13

agriculture

An up-close look at

Powell’s roots are in agriculture and so is its future. As technology advances, its effects on agriculture can affect the whole community.

Powell was founded on agriculture from its beginnings as Camp Coulter in the heart of the Shoshone Irrigation Project. Visitors to the area can get a first-hand look at modern agriculture by touring area farms with the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce. Tours generally include local farms producing sugar beets, pinto beans, barley and sometimes other specialty or unique crops.

Tours are offered for organizations or groups.

Group tours are offered for groups of five or more people. Tour prices do not include lodging or meals, but offer a guided tour of farms on the Powell flat. One-day tours include local farms and area attractions. Two-day tours are offered that include one day of farm visits and a second day that includes a visit to the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center. Tours are given by appointment throughout the summer, but no tours will be given

the last week of July during the Park County Fair.

The Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce operates a visitor center at 111 S. Day St. (P.O. Box 1258) in downtown Powell. The visitor center offers maps,

Tribune file photo by Toby Bonner

tourist information about Park County attractions as well as Yellowstone National Park.

Call the chamber at 307-754-3494 or 800-3254278 or email info@powellchamber.org

A PROGRESSIVE CITY WITH HOMETOWN SPIRIT!

Come and enjoy shopping in our downtown area with lots of convenient parking.

Powell’s 9 city parks are unmatched and cover 125 acres.

With open green spaces, picnic tables and picnic shelters, playgrounds, tennis courts, skate park, wading pool, Aquatic Center, band shell and stage, 1.5 miles of paved pathways, basketball courts, soccer fields, horseshoe pitches, fishing pond, R/C off-road track, ice skating and skate rental, four softball, one American Legion and one Babe Ruth baseball fields.

C O R N E R O F T H I R D A N D C L A R K S T R E E T S • 3 0 7 - 7 5 4 - 5 1 0 6 • W W W. C I T Y O F P O W E L L . C O M PAGE 14 »

ON THE ROAD

Located between Powell and Cody, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center tells the stories of thousands of Japanese Americans who were interned at the World War II confinement site. The center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the summer.

Photo courtesy Kevin J. Miyazaki, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation

go: If you

The Heart Mountain WWII Japanese American Confinement Site is located between Cody and Powell, on U.S. Highway 14-A. The address is 1539 Road 19, Powell, WY, 82435.

The Interpretive Center is open daily in the summer from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and students and children under 12 are free. For more information, call 307-754-8000 or visit www.HeartMountain.org.

A look inside the internment camp In addition to a beautiful setting, the Heart Mountain World War II Japanese American Confinement Site west of Powell offers both an artifact of World War II-era politics and hysteria, as well as a reminder of the fragility of democracy in times of conflict.

Today, the site features an Interpretive Center, war memorial, walking tour and original camp structures, all dedicated to telling the stories of the 14,000 Japanese Americans confined there during World War II. The site is managed by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a private nonprofit that formed in 1996.

The Interpretive Center is the focal point of the site, featuring a museum, gallery, theater and victory garden. The area immediately surrounding the Interpretive Center evokes the sparseness of the landscape that greeted the internees when they arrived. Inside, a visit to the Center begins with a powerful film created by Oscar-winning documentarian Steven Okazaki. It is titled “All We Could Carry,” and features internees speaking directly about their experiences. The museum is punctuated by interactive exhibits featuring oral histories and original film footage from life in camp.

There are also photographs, artifacts and art pieces created by internees. The building also includes two full-scale barracks rooms that have been replicated to provide an authentic portrayal of living quarters in the camp. The pieces are tied together through a narrative that allows visitors to experience life at Heart Mountain through the eyes of those who were confined there.

Brian Liesinger, former Executive Director of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, believes the site is not only significant historically but also for what it can teach visitors about the importance of defending civil rights, even in the

most dire circumstances. “This is not merely a Japanese American story. This is an American story,” he said. “We’re a country of immigrants, and this is one of our powerful immigrant stories — one that unfortunately includes a chapter on injustice.”

Yet, within the Japanese American confinement, Liesinger notes stories of perseverance, loyalty and patriotism that inspire his work on a daily basis. “Somehow, they endured incarceration with grace,” he said. “To know these stories is to have a more complete understanding of what it means to be American. By knowing our faults as well as our successes, we know what it means to be better citizens.”

The Interpretive Center opened amid a grand celebration in August 2011. Turning out for the event were former internees, their families, and dignitaries including Tom Brokaw, former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former U.S. Congressman and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta (who met Simpson as a Boy Scout at the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp). Mineta was interned with his family and a Boy Scout in a camp troop. Simpson was a Cody Boy Scout.

“What you are doing here is drawing that line in the sand to say that never again will there be something like what happened at Heart Mountain and other relocation camps,” said Mineta during a grand opening ceremony attended by more than 1,200 people.

Since then, the Center has established itself as a worldclass facility and was recognized for its excellence with an award from the American Associations of Museums in 2012.

“Due to the uniqueness of the history, the quality of the information and, frankly, the haunting beauty of the site, I am of the opinion that this is a must-see if you’re in the area,” said Liesinger.

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 15

HEART MOUNTAIN CAMP WA S

O N C E T H I R D - L A R G E S T

A curious-looking city arose from the barren Wyoming landscape between the towns of Cody and Powell in the summer of 1942. After two months of steady work, it was set to house 11,000 residents — all coming from the West Coast. What made this “city” glaringly different from the rest of Wyoming’s cities was the presence of barbed-wire fences, guard towers and armed sentries. Its “residents” arrived by force — rather than choice — and their arrival came as a result of a complete denial of civil rights.

This “city” opened in August of 1942 as the “Heart Mountain Relocation Camp.” One of 10 “relocation centers” built nationwide, its purpose was to detain Americans of Japanese descent who lived on the West Coast. In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, many feared JapaneseAmericans would conspire with Japan against the United States. Amid the fear and uncertainty, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the forced removal of 120,000 Japanese-Americans — the majority of them U.S. citizens — from their West Coast homes.

With that declaration, an exclusion order was made in California, the southern part of Arizona and the western parts of Oregon and Washington. Signs were posted stating that all Americans of Japanese descent in those areas were required to dispose of their property and possessions and report for exclusion.

They were not told where they were going or how long they would be gone. And they were allowed a single suitcase each.

Internees came by train, and at its peak, the Heart Mountain confinement site held 10,767, making it the third-largest “city” in Wyoming. Heart Mountain came to operate much like any other city, with a hospital; internee-managed fire, police and judicial systems; a post office; water, sewer and electrical systems; two grade schools and a high school; and several cooperative enterprises. There were hobby clubs, theaters and ball games, as well as births, deaths, weddings and festivals. Internees formed active recreation programs and developed a successful agricultural program to provide fresh food. It was all done in the spirit of “shigata ga nai,” a phrase roughly translated as, “it cannot be helped” and expressed in Japanese culture as the need to endure unavoidable hardship or injustice with dignity. With that spirit in mind, the internees attempted to build community despite the barbed-wire that surrounded them.

The camp itself was constructed on a large, flat swath of Bureau of Reclamation land, and the project employed a workforce of about 2,500. “It seems

C I T Y

I N W YO M I N G

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center shares the stories of the Japanese American internees who were forced to live behind barbed wire during World War II. Photos courtesy Kevin J. Miyazaki, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation

that any and all who want work find quick employment in the building of this gigantic relocation center,” wrote the Powell Tribune in a June 1942 edition.

“From Powell and Cody and other Big Horn Basin towns the labor supply has been requisitioned as if with a fine-tooth comb. As a consequence, labor for the farmers is scarcer than ever before in the valley’s history.”

What rose up in the shadow of Heart Mountain in a period of two months were over 450 barracks, arranged in blocks with communal restrooms and mess halls. When the crew was working full-speed, they could build a barrack in about 60 minutes. Each 20-foot by 120-foot barrack contained six apartments and was constructed of untreated lumber covered with tarpaper.

The fear and hysteria that fueled the decision to confine Japanese-Americans from the West Coast followed them to Heart Mountain. Most local residents were not receptive to these new visitors. Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, a Cody resident, recalls the general concern from Cody at the time: “We were told there were 11,000 people there,” he said. “There were only two cities larger than that in Wyoming … So, people thought, ‘Now, if those people escape, we’ll all be killed.’”

The Powell Tribune noted the internees’ arrival in a story that referred to the camp as a “Heart Mountain haven” and, despite evidence to the contrary, stated that “(T)he Japanese themselves get the point. This coming to a peaceful habitation for the duration of the war is welcome and voluntary for the main body of them.” In reality, the internees did not welcome relocation and they were not made welcome upon arrival. Nels Smith, the governor of Wyoming at the time, told the federal government, “If you bring Japanese into my state, I promise you they will be hanging from every tree.”

In the shadow of Heart Mountain, Japanese American internees work the land. ‘Heart In the 1943 Wyoming Legislative session, Sen. George Burke Mountain had one of the most successful agriculture programs of all the camps, inof Powell introduced a law barring the residents of the Heart troducing new crops that had never before been grown in the region,’ according to the Mountain Camp from voting in Wyoming. The city » Cont’d interpretive center. Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Okumoto Collection PAGE 16 »

ON THE ROAD

Japanese Americans confined here in wake of Pearl Harbor » Cont’d councils of Powell and Cody passed a joint resolution. In part, it asked that the Japanese-Americans at Heart Mountain not be permanently relocated to the region and requested that visits to the two towns by camp residents “be held to an absolute minimum,” only “when absolutely necessary.”

However, the council members stressed that they still would like to see the Japanese Americans released for work on the area’s farms.

That double standard frustrated the center’s employment chief, Joe Carrol. “We are requested to confine them to the center, except to permit them to assist in the planting and harvesting of agriculture. Just what do you want, liquidation or continuance of the center?” he asked at a Powell Club meeting later that May. “Certainly citizens or law abiding aliens cannot be expected to participate in your agricultural work, if they cannot be accorded the same rights as other citizens or aliens, whether they be of Japanese or any other ancestry.”

However, Big Horn Basin residents did extend occasional olive branches to the internees. Many did not know what to make of the camp, but that did not prevent area schools from bringing in sports teams to compete with Heart Mountain High School’s teams, for example. Both Cody and Powell Boy Scouts participated in scouting activities and outings with the Heart Mountain troops. In addition, local church groups donated gifts for children in camp and baby blankets for those born in the Heart Mountain hospital.

All the while, World War II marched on, and the need for able-bodied soldiers left the War Department scrambling for new recruits. Initially, all internees were declared “enemy aliens” unfit for service, but in 1944, the government decided to make draft-age internees eligible.

More than 800 Heart Mountain internees fought for the U.S. in World War II. Several of them had distinguished careers of military service, and 15 were killed in action.

While many answered the call, there were some that refused. Sixty-three of them persisted in their resistance, declaring that their obedience to the draft order was dependent on being released from the camp with their constitutional rights restored. In the largest mass trial in Wyoming’s history, all 63 of these men were found guilty of draft evasion and given federal prison sentences of three years.

At the end of 1944, the government announced that it would begin closing the camps. In the months that followed, internees were released with little more than the suitcase they arrived with and a $25 train ticket. Heart Mountain closed in November of 1945, and the camp buildings were soon dismantled, removed by incoming homesteaders or used by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Eventually, all barracks were removed from the site, though many can still be seen scattered around the Big Horn Basin today, remnants of homesteads established after World War II. Today, it is known as the Heart Mountain World War II Japanese-American Confinement Site, with the focal point being the Interpretive Center there. The Center opened in 2011 to tell the stories of confinement through museum exhibits, a gallery, victory garden and introductory film titled “All We Could Carry.” The site has been declared a National Historic Landmark and also includes a military memorial, walking trail and original camp structures. The site memorializes the experiences of more than 14,000 Americans of Japanese descent who were brought into and out of the camp from 1942 to 1945.

Heart Mountain Stones Unraveling the mystery

Tasked with leveling out what was once the cemetery at the Heart Mountain internment camp, a local worker made an amazing discovery.

The year was 1956. When the Heart Mountain camp closed in 1945 at the end of World War II, the land it was built on and the surrounding acreage was parceled off to homesteaders. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was charged with clearing off what remained of the camp. It was during that work that Bill Higgins and his road grader ran over something definitely not native to the the soil. Assuming he’d run over a casket that had been left behind when the cemetery was relocated, Higgins was surprised to instead find a 55-gallon drum buried just below the surface. The force of the impact sheared the top off the barrel, exposing its contents: Thousands of tiny stones, each marked with a single Japanese character.

So began the mystery of the Heart Mountain stones.

“This story is one that has captivated me since I first started working here,” said Museum Manager Dakota Russell. “I wanted to learn more about it, and that’s how this presentation began to take shape.”

THE PAST MEETS THE PRESENT In the years that followed the discovery, homesteaders Les and Nora Bovee made attempts to identify the stones and figure out how they came to be buried in the cemetery. Lacking the resources for an intensive investigation, the barrel sat for many years in the Bovees’ farm. As Japanese-American families with members once held at Heart Mountain began to make pilgrimages back to the camp in the 1970s and ’80s, Les Bovee would show the stones to the intrigued visitors.

“A lot of times, he would send visitors home with a handful of the stones, which diminished the collection somewhat,” Russell said.

After the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) opened in Los Angeles in 1992, the Bovees donated the roughly 650 remaining stones to the facility.

Once on display at the JANM, the stones were viewed by Sodo Mori, a Japanese scholar and an expert in Buddhist history. Mori theorized that the stones were part of a sutra, or Buddhist scripture, as he’d seen similar collections in Japan dating back to » Cont’d

TIMELINE ◆ DECEMBER 7, 1941 Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ◆ FEBRUARY 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, forcing 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry — most American-born citizens — to move from their West Coast homes to relocation camps ◆ JUNE 1942 Work began on the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp near Powell. “So many carloads of lumber have been taken from local yards — yards at Powell, Cody, and neighbor towns as far as Billings — are almost denuded,” reported the Powell Tribune on June 25.

Work was completed by early August. ◆ AUGUST 11, 1942 The first 292 Japanese-Americans arrived at Heart Mountain. At capacity, the camp housed 10,767 internees, making it, at the time, the third-largest city in Wyoming. ◆ MAY 1945 Departures from the camp began in earnest as the U.S. government began allowing internees to return to their West Coast homes. ◆ NOVEMBER 10, 1945 The last train departed from the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. ◆ AUGUST 10, 1988 Sen. Al Simpson, R-Wyo., and Rep. Norman Mineta, D-Cal., sponsored the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, a law that acknowledged the fundamental injustices of the internment of Japanese-Americans. ◆ 1996 The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation formed. Local leaders included John Collins, Dave Reetz and Pat Wolfe.

The foundation went on to purchase 50 acres of land at the original camp site, restored the camp’s military honor roll and acquired a significant collection of artifacts, oral histories, photos and historic papers. ◆ SEPTEMBER 2000 Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer and Powell Mayor Jim Milburn sent letters to surviving Heart Mountain internees and their families, intended to “acknowledge the difficulties and hardships faced by internees and the lack of consideration given to those at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center.” ◆ JUNE 23, 2005 A walking tour of the Heart Mountain camp was dedicated, named in honor of Setsuko Saito Higuchi, a former internee who served on the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Board of Directors and Advisory Board. ◆ FEBRUARY 1, 2007 Heart Mountain camp site officially named a National Historic Landmark. ◆ AUGUST 20, 2011 Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center was dedicated and opened to the public. Hundreds of guests, including former internees, attended the opening of the 11,000-square foot, $5.5 million facility between Powell and Cody.

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 17

HEART MOUNTAIN

World War II National Historic Site

Heart Mountain Stones

» Cont’d the 16th century.

“Basically what happens is that they will take a sutra, copy one character at a time onto stones and then bury them,” Russell explained. “It’s a symbolic gesture: The stones are buried for when the future Buddha comes to teach mankind the way of enlightenment; the scriptures are preserved.”

But questions still remained. In an investigation rivaling any good detective story, Mori copied down all 650-plus characters in the JANM collection. He and his colleagues then wrote a computer program to test the characters against the existing sutras, narrowing the search to the closest matching texts. It was finally concluded the text in question was selections from the first five chapters of the Lotus Sutra, a widely read and revered Buddhist scripture. First translated in the third century in East Asia, the Lotus Sutra is used by the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, Russell said.

“So now [Mori] knew he was looking for a Nichiren priest, and a calligrapher,” Russell said. “Fortunately for the search, there was only one in the camp that fit that criteria.”

MYSTERY SOLVED? That one was Rev. Nichikan Murakita, a Nichiren monk. He was sent to the U.S. on a mission to San Francisco in 1933, and he eventually settled in Los Angeles. However, Murakita was detained after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, arriving at Heart Mountain in September of 1942.

“He was only in camp about a year — taught calligraphy, preached in camp,” Russell said. “He and his wife eventually applied for and were granted repatriation back to Japan in PAGE 18 »

ON THE ROAD

1943 as part of a diplomatic exchange.

He never spoke about the stones, so they remained for years this total mystery.”

Theories abound as to whether Murakita created the stones as part of his calligraphy class or if it was something he did on his own. As he was only in camp for a year, and the stones initially found numbered over 2,000, it represented a rather extensive undertaking.

“That’s a lot of stones, so if you think about it, he would have had to go down to the Shoshone River, which means getting a pass,” Russell said.

“You have to collect the rocks, bring them up to camp, clean them off and then paint each one. It’s a big project to undertake alone, but if he did it as part of his calligraphy class, how come no one remembers it?”

Russell is inclined to believe Murakita painted the stones on his own, a belief shared by Mori. Because no one can say with any certainty that Murakita indeed had help, it may be the one element of the story that will remain a mystery.

“You would think that if there were a bunch of people doing this, someone would have some memory of this stone scripture being made,” Russell said. “So that, and the fact that the brushwork on the stones are so consistent, leads me to believe he was doing it alone, in secret.”

Since the unveiling of the stones at the Japanese American National Museum, the stones that were given out over time have slowly begun to trickle back to Heart Mountain. The center now has a small collection of the stones that used to hang in Nora Bovee’s ceramic shop on display, as well as a few from different owners that have been donated over the years.

MUSEUM • GALLERY • WAR MEMORIAL WALKING TRAIL • ORIGINAL CAMP STRUCTURES Through interactive exhibits, artifacts, photographs and by walking the grounds of the site, you will experience life at Heart Mountain through the eyes of the 14,000 Japanese Americans confined there during WWII.

Visit the site where more than 14,000 Japanese Americans were confined during World War II.

PHOTO BY KEVIN J. MIYAZAKI

These mystery stones are on exhibit at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. A collection of marked stones was found buried under the Heart Mountain camp after it closed in 1945. Photo courtesy Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation

Located off Highway 14A between Cody & Powell, WY Summer Hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Daily 1539 Road 19, Powell, Wyoming 82435 • 307.754.8000 www.HeartMountain.org

On a wind-swept plateau nearly 10,000 feet in elevation, the Medicine Wheel stands as a sacred site and source of spiritual power to Native Americans.

The arrangement of local limestone rocks in the shape of a wheel atop the Big Horn Mountains swirls amid curiosity and controversy over its origins as well as present day use of the national historic landmark.

“We believe that it’s a source of power,” said Francis Brown, a Northern Arapahoe tribal elder.

Astronomical and calendar functions served by the wheel are secondary to the site’s source of

religious power to Native Americans, said Gregory Campbell, a University of Montana anthropologist.

Campbell believes the arrangement of stones in an 80-foot diameter circle with 28 “spokes” radiating from a central cairn should be called “a sacred universe” to native peoples.

After years of negotiations by various Native American tribes with federal officials, the Medicine Wheel/Medicine Mountain National Historic Landmark site was expanded to 4,080 acres.

The U.S. Forest Service administers the site, which

is in the Bighorn National Forest.

Brown said Native Americans saved the wheel from “being destroyed by tourism” due to the erosion caused by so many people at the site. The site will be “open to anybody, but you have to walk,” he said.

People must walk about a mile to the wheel from a parking area.

Visitors can reach the Medicine Wheel by turning north off U.S. Highway 14-A near the Bald Mountain campground 34 miles east of Lovell. A sign reading “Medicine Wheel Archeological Site” indicates the turnoff with the white dome of a Federal Aviation Administration radar station visible at the turnoff.

The road is usually clear of snow by the end of June.

Visitors are also asked not to go to the wheel during certain times when Native American religious ceremonies are conducted, such as at the summer solstice.

Tribune file photo by Gib Mathers

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 19

Greybull H U B

O F

T H E

B I G

H O R N

B A S I N

Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting Greybull is located in the hub of the Big Horn Basin on U.S. Highway 14/16/20 between Yellowstone National Park and the Black Hills.

Just 1 mile west of Greybull is the Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting. The museum features old military planes that were transformed into aerial tankers to fight forest fires.

At the museum, you can learn more about the original pilots who were firefighters in the sky.

Visitors can explore the inside of a Fairchild C-119, known as the “Flying Boxcar.” Originally built in 1947, the Flying Boxcars were made to haul cargo and troops for the United States and five other countries. The C-119 was used extensively in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Later, a jet engine was attached to the top of the airplane to help convert the aircraft for firefighting purposes. The two C-119s on display at the Greybull museum are on loan from the United States Forest Service.

Other planes on display include two PB4Y-2 aircraft from the World War II era. The PB4Y-2 saw heavy use during the Cold War. Also on display is the Beech 18 or “Twin Beech,” used during World War II as a transport and training aircraft. After the war, the Twin Beech was converted to civilian life, finding use for spraying,

mail delivery and filming movies. The Twin Beech was later used by U.S. Forest Service smoke-jumpers and for cargo transport.

The Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting, located at 2534 Hiller Lane in Greybull, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum opened in mid-May and remains open through Oct. 15.

The museum is free of charge, but donations are encouraged.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

• The Big Horn Mountains/Bighorn National Forest offer 32 campgrounds, 14 picnic areas, a visitor center, more than 1,500 miles of trails, two recreational lakes and three scenic byways. Shell Falls is located 30 miles east of Greybull in the Big Horn Mountains.

• Shell Creek flows over 3-billion-year-old granite rock at 3,600 gallons per second. The scenic view is breathtaking! Call 307-765-4435 for more information.

• Devil’s Kitchen near Greybull offers colorful, eerie rock formations.

This Cloverly Formation is fascinating and picturesque with spires and weathered multi-colored hills that can be seen from an overlook. For a map and more information, call the Greybull Area Chamber of Commerce, 307-765-2100.

Historic airplanes are on display at The Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting just west of Greybull. Photo courtesy Greybull Area Chamber of Commerce PAGE 20 »

ON THE ROAD

Museum of Ancient Life

A visit to the Museum of Ancient Life in downtown ancestors of squid.

“Because of its geology, the Big Horn Basin contains Greybull takes you back 150 million years in time — a time when dinosaurs were the dominant form of life on layers of rock older than 2.5 billion years, as well as many, land and marine reptiles swam in the ancient seas. The many younger rock layers,” wrote Kirk Johnson, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, museum will open to the public in early June.

Unlike most museums, where the fossils and artifacts in the recent publication “Ancient Wyoming.”

“What makes this place so on display are from other areas amazing is that it has layers of around the globe, all fossils, rock from almost every single rocks, and artifacts on display at geologic time period. If you had the Museum of Ancient Life were to pick one place in the world discovered and collected locally to tell the story of Earth’s hisin the Big Horn Basin and along the western slopes of the nearby tory, you would pick this place,” Big Horn Mountains.

Johnson said.

The Big Horn Basin contains Visitors to the Museum of extensively documented fossilAncient Life will see fossils and bearing deposits that date from reproductions of the skulls of 550 million years (Cambrian Mesozoic Era dinosaurs includPeriod) to the present. These A nearly complete Red Canyon Ranch ing the allosaurus “Big Al 2,” the include geologic outcrops that camarasaurus. Courtesy photo giant camarasaurus “ET,” and contain world-famous dinosaur the stegosaurus “Victoria,” along bones and tracksites, ancient marine reptiles, and primi- with ancient dinosaur trackways cast from a private site near the famous Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite, and casts tive mammal fossils.

The nearby Howe Quarry, Red Canyon Ranch Quar- of ancient marine reptiles that swam in the Sundance Sea. Extensive collections of fossils from even earlier ry, and Dana Quarry have produced some of the finest dinosaur specimens ever discovered, including the most times such as corals, trilobites, and stromatolites are complete allosaurus and stegosaurus dinosaurs, and the also on display. Stromatolites were created by the activrare middle-Jurassic age Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite, ity of ancient cyanobacteria, which is one of the earliest where 167 million years ago, carnivorous dinosaurs forms of life. browsed the tidal flats alongside the ancient Sundance Admission to the museum is free but donations to Sea. Ancient marine reptiles, including ichthyosaurs and the non-profit Bighorn Basin Geoscience Center, Inc. plesiosaurs, swam in the Sundance Sea, feeding on the are greatly apprecited.

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ON THE ROAD » PAGE 21 25

Chief Joseph and Beartooths Highway and mountains a bonus for Yellowstone area visitors These are among traveler comments: Yellowstone National Park is the Big Daddy destination of the summer “Absolutely beautiful drive, we loved it and would highly recommend it. travel season in northwest Wyoming.

Only suggestion would be to provide more advance notice of some of the No question about it.

But, there are any number of “must sees” for the summer traveler on the more scenic pullouts.”

“Beartooth Highway is best route off Cody to Mammoth Hot Springs, rim of Yellowstone Country, just the sort of thing to add icing to an unforgetleast traffic, great scenery. Cody is used to stock the RV.” table summer in the West.

“Beautiful trip over Monster Mountain was scary for me. I’m scared of One such experience that entices many an adventure seeker to extend their stay to or from Yellowstone is the spectacular drive afforded by the Beartooth heights! God’s handiwork is awesome!”

“Best mountain scenery we have ever experienced. Please All-American Highway along the Wyoming-Montana border ‘God and leave as is. We don’t need another four-lane highway through just outside the Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone. For many, scenic America. Slow down and take it all in.” it is a destination unto itself. engineers and “Don’t ever change this road. I love the curves and turns The Beartooth Highway (U.S. Highway 212) is a 68-mile builders did just the way it is.” travel corridor between the Northeast Entrance and Red a good job.’

“Fantastic scenery, great animal watching opportunities., Lodge, Montana, that reaches nearly 11,000 feet in elevation fascinating road construction.” with sweeping vistas of snow-covered mountains, high plateau ~ Traveler ~ “God and engineers and builders did a good job.” views, lakes and trails. A 54-mile segment of the road is des“Happy we traveled Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, beautiful country even ignated as the Beartooth All-American Road, one of only 31 All-American though we did not go up to Red Lodge.”

Roads highlighted as the most scenic national byways in the country.

“Have seen Beartooth Pass written up in the magazines. Highly rated, Wyoming’s connection to U.S. Highway 212 is the remarkable Chief Joseph Highway (Wyo. Highway 296) north of Cody that climbs over Dead Indian should invite PBS or National Geographic with direction to make a docuPass and traverses the Upper Clark’s Fork River Valley to intersect with 212 mentary of the building and use of BTH. I find it interesting that the Swedish on the way to Cooke City, Montana. It provides a wonderful loop road from engineers designed the road.”

Cody for a day trip (or longer) to access the scenic majesty of the Beartooths.

“I am from Japan. I don’t understand the expression ‘elbow room.’”

In the summer travel season of 2012, University of Montana researchers “I was familiar with Chief Joseph as I am a historian. The highway was a conducted an economic impact study of the Beartooth All-American Road. highlight of our trip, and I will recommend this passage.”

More than 163,000 non-resident traveler groups were counted. In dollars “Most beautiful drive anywhere! More signage needed to remind tourists and cents, they accounted for $45 million in spending in the three gateway not to stop on the roadway, more turnouts needed.” communities of Cody, Wyoming, Cooke City and Red Lodge, Montana.

“Primary reason for traveling Beartooth — it was a different route between Nearly half of them were first-time travelers to the Beartooths, and they Cody and the interstate on the way to Yellowstone.” told what made the Beartooth Highway special to them.

“Breathtaking drive. Please don’t make it ‘safer.’”

Mothers and kids

Mountain goats graze in a wildflower-covered meadow near the summit of the Beartooth Highway (U.S. Highway 212).

The goats were shedding their winter coats and growing new, sleek ones. Tribune file photo by Ilene Olson

PAGE 22 »

ON THE ROAD

‘Meeting place’

In the Shoshone Indian language, Meeteetse means “meeting place,” and for more than 140 years, it has been just that as one of the oldest settlements in the Big Horn Basin of northwest Wyoming.

The meadow of the Double D Dude Ranch lies southwest of Meeteetse on the Wood River. Courtesy photo

Meeteetse: Rich with history

Meeteetse dates its earliest settlements to the 1870s. The town itself dates to the establishment of a post office and the school in 1880.

This was 16 years prior to the establishment of Cody in 1896.

Meeteetse, in Park County, lies 30 miles southeast of Cody on Wyo. Highway 120.

Meeteetse’s history is rich in early day ranching in the upper Greybull River Valley. The Pitchfork Ranch, an icon of pioneer ranch development west of Meeteetse, traces its roots to 1879 and at one time encompassed 250,000 acres.

In 1881, Meeteetse was the terminus of the old Meeteetse Trail, built by the Army as a stage and freight road running from Red Lodge (and Billings), Montana, to get supplies to the area. The trail was the first road built in the Big Horn Basin and was eventually extended to Lander and Rawlins.

In the 1880s, Meeteetse became the jumping off point for a minor gold rush to the Upper Wood River Valley. In 1885, William Kirwin discovered gold in the valley, and by 1891, the Wood River Mining District had been formed. The center of the mining district was the town of Kirwin, 33 miles to the southwest of Meeteetse at 9,500 feet of elevation.

A number of mines were established in the area, and gold was brought out by mules. Snow, and depleting commercial gold, spelled the end of the mining. In a 1907 blizzard, 50 feet of snow fell on Kirwin in eight days, and an avalanche buried the town store, killing three people. With spring thaw, the remaining occupants left town.

Meeteetse even has connection with some of the mystical outlaw history of the West. Butch Cassidy once lived in the area and left his mark on an 1886 petition. In 1894, he was arrested outside the Cowboy Bar. The Cowboy Bar is still operating today.

Kirwin is accessible today, and has buildings still standing.

Meeteetse is proud of its ranching, mining and cowboy heritage. Today the “meeting place” is the center for many and varied outdoor recreation activities in keeping with Western traditions. The charm of the Old West is preserved in Meeteetse’s wooden boardwalks, watering troughs, hitching posts and historic buildings dating to the turn of the 20th century.

Hiking, hunting and fishing, horseback riding, camping and wildlife viewing opportunities are abundant in the Meeteetse outdoor world.

For more than 100 years, the cowboy heritage of rodeo has provided a town celebration each Labor Day weekend. The 2017 Meeteetse Labor Day Rodeo and celebration will be Sept. 2-4.

For more information, call the Meeteetse Visitor Center at 307-8682454 or visit www.meeteetsewy.com.

Hiking, hunting and fishing, horseback riding, camping and wildlife viewing opportunities are abundant in the Meeteetse area.

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 23 25

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Meeteetse Visitor Center

307-868-2454 www.meeteetsewy.com

Book now and stay with us for the 2017 eclipse!

Where outlaws rode and cattle barons ruled the land.

Where wooden boardwalks, hitching rails and water troughs still line the streets.

WWW.MEETEETSEWY.COM

• Quality Gas & Diesel Fuel • 24-Hour Fueling • Convenience Store • Hunting & Fishing Licenses • Conservation Stamps • Open 7 Days a Week

2005 State Street • 307-868-2518

FREE ADMISSION! SEE The Western Photographs of Charles Belden

Little Wahb, the Grizzly Bear, Paleoindian artifacts, and Meeteetse history!

“Home of the Endangered Black-Footed Ferret”

Learn its history here!

Free 2017 Tours and Events: June 10---Legend Rock Petroglyph Tour July 14------------ Outdoor concert, 6pm

with the Gypsy Cowbelle and Packin’ the Mail

BEST BURGERS IN THE BASIN! Stop for the food. Stay for the fun!

Under new management Like us on Facebook!

Package Liquor Drive-up Window 1916 State St. Meeteetse 307-868-9245

PAGE 24 »

ON THE ROAD

July 16---------- Double Dee Ranch Tour With Amelia Earhart Presentation

Aug. 12----- Ghost Town of Kirwin Tour Aug. 26----------- Alpine Botanical Tour Sept. 2-4---------- Chatelaine Quilt Show Archaeology Fair (Sept. 4) Sept. 26---Black-Footed Ferret Celebration

www.meeteetsemuseums.org SUMMER HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm Tel. 307-868-2423

Plaza Diane Community Center for the Arts P O W E L L A R T S F E S T I V A L A U G U S T 19

Located in the heart of Downtown Powell, Plaza Diane Community Center for the Arts is a gateway to creative exchange and a gathering spot in the community.

The center hosts art exhibits throughout the year and also provides a variety of educational opportunities.

During warm summer days, kids of all ages enjoy cooling off in Plaza Diane’s outdoor splash pad.

Visitors are invited to enjoy and experience the arts and humanities in the center’s casual, friendly setting.

This summer, the center will host an Arts Festival on Aug. 19. Enjoy the arts, sun and fun!

Plaza Diane is located at Second and Bent streets in downtown Powell.

For more information about the Arts Festival, visit www.plazadiane.org.

Lodging and information about the area can be found at www.powellchamber.org and www. yellowstonecountry.org.

DINING GUIDE The locals favorite!

Pizza On The Run

Powell

215 E 1st St 307-754-5720

Cody

Lovell

1302 Sheridan Ave 307-587-5550

490 Shoshone 307-548-2206

Minchow’s Food Court

-the ice cream hut353 East Main, Lovell Tacos, 100% Beef Hamburgers & More!

307-548-7979

G O U R M E T C H I N E S E R E S TA U R A N T

LUNCH BUFFET $7.25 DINNER BUFFET $9.99 151 East Coulter Avenue Powell, Wyoming • 307-754-7924 TUESDAY-FRIDAY, 11AM-2:30PM • 4:30-9PM SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 11AM-9PM

without leaving the Basin!

1385 Sheridan Avenue Cody, Wyoming • 307-578-8202

307-754-4665

275 North Bent Street

Downtown Powell

Great Mexican Food!

Sunday, 7-11am • Monday, 7am-2pm Tuesday-Thursday, 7am-7pm • Friday-Saturday, 7am-8pm

Art Gallery Studio Space

Coffee Shop Art Supplies

estalt Studios www.thepolarplant.com 440 West Park St. Powell Wy. 307.764.2389

DOWN HOME COOKIN’

Daily Specials!

Fresh-Baked Pies!

Private dining room available

FREE cup of coffee or iced tea with purchase of a meal! limit one per customer

141 E. Coulter • 754-8052 BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER • 7 DAYS A WEEK • 6AM TO 9PM

Serving a variety of Wilcoxson’s Ice Cream, 119 North Bent•Powell•307-754-2625 Malts and Shakes!

Monday-Friday, 11am-5:30pm A Great Menu of Tasty Sandwiches and Wraps, plus Homemade Soups and Sides!

• Smoked Ribs • Pulled Pork • Beef Brisket • Baked Beans • Cucumber Salad • Cole Slaw • Texas Toast • Potato Salad • Pulled Pork Nachos

222 South Douglas Powell • 307-271-7200

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 25

Cody Nite Rodeo

Every night from June 1 to Aug. 31 Cody Stampede Rodeo: July 1-4

Cody is

RODEO! Cody, Wyoming

Rounding out a tight turn on the second barrel is Sue Smith of Blackfoot, Idaho, during the Cody Stampede rodeo in 2015. Tribune file photo

CODY IS RODEO Cody is hailed as the “Rodeo Capital of the World” — and for good reason. Founded in 1938, the Cody Nite Rodeo is the longest running and the only nightly rodeo in the world.

All summer long, the Cody Nite Rodeo kicks off every night from June 1 to Aug. 31. The annual Cody Stampede arrives July 1-4.

From the turn of the century, rodeos and parades have been part of the Fourth of July in Cody. For 98 years, starting officially in 1919, the Cody Stampede rodeo has been held every summer.

This year marks the 79th anniversary of the nightly performances.

These two events establish Cody as not only one of the longest running successful professional rodeos, but also the only place in the country that has a rodeo performance nightly.

Mo Betta Rodeo Company and Tate family have been producing the nightly rodeo for more than five PAGE 26 »

ON THE ROAD

years and continue to make history.

For the nightly rodeo, gates open at 7 p.m. with rodeo action kicking off at 8 p.m. All seating is general admission, but purchasing tickets in advance is encouraged.

Be sure to arrive early and have your picture taken on the live rodeo bull “Mongo,” get your face painted by the rodeo clowns, learn to rope like the cowboys and cowgirls, and shop the souvenir store.

The Cody/Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls, featuring the top bullriders in the world, takes place June 30. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the rodeo kicks off at 8 p.m.

For Cody Stampede from July 1-3, gates will open at 6 p.m. and the rodeo begins at 8 p.m. On the Fourth of July, gates will open at 3 p.m. with the rodeo beginning at 5 p.m.

For tickets and more information, visit www.codystampederodeo.com, www.codynightrodeo.com or call 1-800-207-0744.

CODY STAMPEDE & XTREME BULLS JUNE 30 – JULY 4 PLUS: PARADES, ART, MUSIC & MORE!

GET TICKETS NOW AT: 1.800.207.0744

CODYSTAMPEDERODEO.COM CODYNIGHTRODEO.COM

June | July | August

Every Nite!• 8pm Since 1938

Buffalo Bill Dam

It’s known today as Buffalo Bill Dam in the Shoshone Canyon west of Cody.

But it was Shoshone Dam when it was constructed as an engineering marvel between 1906 and 1910.

The name was changed to Buffalo Bill Dam in 1946 by an act of Congress.

Today the Buffalo Bill Dam is even taller than it was in 1910 when it was initially completed as the world’s tallest concrete arch, then standing 328 feet high. Over a seven-year period between 1985 and 1992, the dam was raised by 25 feet to increase the storage capacity of Buffalo Bill Reservoir by 74,000 acre-feet.

Buffalo Bill Dam is now 353 feet high. A modern visitor center has been constructed adjacent to the top of the dam. The visitor center tells the story of dam construction and the story of reclamation of more than 90,000 acres of Shoshone Reclamation Project lands downriver.

Powell is at the center of the Shoshone Reclamation Project, where land was opened to homesteading in 1907, even before the dam was

completed. The Corbett Diversion Dam on the Shoshone River some 5 miles below Cody allowed for water to be diverted into the Garland Canal which delivered the irrigation water to the first homestead units near Powell.

The Shoshone Project was the second U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project authorized by Congress.

Buffalo Bill Dam, registered as a National Historic structure and recorded as a National Civil Engineering Landmark, stands unique among structures of its kind.

It was dedicated as a National Civil Engineering Landmark in September 1973. Then Commissioner of Reclamation Gilbert Stamm praised Buffalo Bill Dam as a tribute to the architects, engineers and laborers who built the dam at the turn of the century.

Engineers selected the narrowest part of the solid granite Shoshone Canyon for the location of the dam. H.N. Savage, supervising engineer for the reclamation service, called the spot “the perfect granite foundation” for the dam.

Before work could begin on the dam, an 8-mile road from Cody to the site had to be

Lives and limbs sacrificed during dam’s construction

Tribune photo by CJ Baker

carved along the rugged river bank. Much of the drilling for the construction was carried on during the winter, and drillers cursed low temperatures, high winds and anchor ice, as well as the huge granite boulders tightly grouted to smaller boulders resting on the bedrock.

The original contract was let for $515,730 on Sept. 5, 1905. Before the dam was completed at a total cost of $929,658, two contractors had gone bankrupt, and the project was finished by a third contractor. Seven workers were killed during construction, three lost limbs, three more lost their eyesight and 28 others were crippled or mutilated.

For more information about Buffalo Bill Dam, visit www.bbdvc.com.

Once held record of world’s tallest concrete arch

ON THE ROAD » PAGE 27

20 200

200 FT 61 m

20 100

100 FT 30.5 m

20 70

70 FT 21.3 m

20 50

50 FT 15.2 m

20 40

40 FT 12.2 m

20 30

30 FT 9.14 m

20 20

20 FT 11.1 m

20 10

10 FT 5.55 m

PAGE 28 »

ON THE ROAD

BUFFALO BILL CENTER OF THE WEST

Whether you have two hours or two days, a visit to the five museums of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is sure to be one of the best parts of your trip West.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West celebrates its centennial in 2017. For 100 years, the Center of the West has nurtured Cody’s dream, teaching and sharing the West he loved.

The Center of the West recounts the tales of the legendary showman William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. One need only spend some time in the museum to meet the man and agree, “Buffalo Bill was so big — even the West couldn’t hold him.”

The Whitney Gallery of Western Art captures the masterworks of the artists of the American West. Remington, Russell, Catlin, Bierstadt, Moran and Wyeth are just a few of the long list of revered artists represented in the collection.

The Plains Indian Museum presents the history of the Northern Plains tribes.

Native voices, coupled with beautiful

BEST OF COD

objects, articulate the life stories of Plains Indian peoples — the cultures and histories, as well as the modern-day existence.

Whether cowboy or trapper, settler or Native American, the story of the American West is incomplete without the firearm.

Housing the most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the world, the Cody Firearms Museum chronicles the history of the firearm, from the earliest days up to the modern era.

The Draper Museum of Natural History is the first American natural history museum to be established in the 21st Century. Here, visitors are encouraged to become explorers of the Greater Yellowstone Area as they explore the relationship between the people, the animals, the plants and the landscape of the West.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is located at 720 Sheridan Ave. in Cody.

For more information, visit the center’s website at www.centerofthewest.org.

WILD WEST TOUR

Y

A young visitor gazes up at a Allosaur cast at the Draper Natural History Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

Photo courtesy Chris Gimmeson, Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Just minutes from Cody!

FREE Expanded Continental Breakfast.

Drive a little.

Save a lot.

Give us an Hour, We’ll give you 100 YEARS! 2 FUN Guides! 1 Hour! 22 Miles!

Buffalo Bill • Annie Oakley • Historic Sites • Insider Stories • Wildlife Tips • Best Attractions

SAVE $$ WITH OUR West COMBO TICKET Trolley / Buffalo Bill Center of the

Multiple Daily Tours

Located

at the

Irma Hotel

CALL 307-527-7043 OR BOOK ONLINE: CodyTrolleyTours.com CODY

WYOMING

» » » » » »

Comfortable Rooms Pillowtop Mattresses FREE Wireless Internet Cable TV with HBO FREE Local Calls Truck & RV Parking

Summer Rates from $99 or more

845 East Coulter (14A) Powell, Wyoming

1-307-754-7231 1-800-800-8000 ON THE ROAD » PAGE 29

Photo courtesy Neal Herbert, National Park Service

THE WORLD’S FIRST NATIONAL PARK The world’s first national park beckons millions of travelers every year, offering exciting adventures, beautiful scenery, wildlife, serenity, geysers, fine food and accommodations ranging from rustic to glamorous.

Yellowstone National Park was founded in 1872 after early explorers reported finding dazzling geysers, colorful mineral ponds, rumbling waterfalls and abundant wildlife. More than 100 years later, little has changed in the park’s backcountry, although beautiful hotels, campgrounds, visitor centers and other facilities dot the park’s 466 miles of paved roads.

To leave the beaten path, go to one of the park’s 92 trailheads, leading to more than 1,000 miles of backcountry trails.

Come early; come often. An annual pass al-

W H A T

lowing unlimited access to the park is $60, while a seven-day pass for a private car full of visitors is $30. A visitor riding a motorcycle or snowmobile pays $25. Those walking in or riding a bike pay $15 apiece. An annual interagency pass that covers admission to most national parks and federal recreation areas throughout the United States is $80.

Discounted passes are available for senior citizens, U.S. Military personnel, and visitors with disabilities. Fourth-graders also can receive a free park pass, For a few days this summer, you can get into the park for free — the National Park Service waives entrance fees on Aug. 25, the National Park Service Birthday; Sept. 30, National Public Lands Day; and Nov. 11-12 for Veterans Day weekend.

Roads are open 24 hours a day throughout the park though the summer, although various road construction projects are planned. For current conditions and road construction schedules, call 307-344-2117 or visit www.nps.gov/yell. Xanterra Parks and Resorts operates lodging and store facilities in Yellowstone. For lodging and camping information, call 866-439-7375 or visit www. yellowstonenationalparklodges.com.

Information about Yellowstone is also available at the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce along U.S. Highway 14-A or at visitor information offices in gateway cities like Cody and Cooke City, Montana. (To drive to Cooke City, take the scenic Chief Joseph Highway off Wyo. 120 about 16 miles north of Cody and follow the signs leading to the park’s northeast entrance.)

lair hotels H A P P E N S

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Near iconic natural attractions like Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons and Mount Rushmore.

Five resort-style hotels in the Rocky Mountain West towns of Buffalo, Cody and Riverton, WY Restaurant & Lounge, Heated Pool, and Shopping On-site with Free Airport Shuttle

®

PAGE 30 »

ON THE ROAD

w w w. b l a i r h o t e l s . c o m

Reduce the risk of a

BEAR ENCOUNTER Be alert

See the bear before you surprise it.

Watch for bear signs such as tracks, scat and feeding sites. When hiking, stay alert and aware of your surroundings. Frequently look ahead, off to the sides, and behind you.

Carry bear spray

Bear spray is a non-lethal bear deterrent designed to stop aggressive behavior in bears. You don’t have to be a good shot with bear spray.

All you need to do is put up a cloud of bear spray between you and the charging bear when it’s about 30-60 feet away. Bear spray must be immediately accessible in a quick draw holster, not stored in your pack.

Avoid hiking at dawn, dusk or at night

Avoid hiking at dawn, dusk or at night. During the hot summer season these are the periods when grizzly bears are most active.

Hike close together or in groups

Whenever possible, hike in groups of three or more people — 91 percent of the people injured by bears in Yellowstone since 1970 were hiking alone or with only one hiking

partner. Only 9 percent of the people injured by bears were in groups of three or more people.

Make noise, alert bears to your presence

When hiking, periodically yell “Hey bear,” especially when walking through dense vegetation or blind spots, or when traveling upwind, near loud streams or on windy days. Avoid thick brush whenever possible.

Buffalo Bill Dam

Avoid carcasses

FREE Admission • Open May-Sept.

Deer and elk carcasses are a highly preferred bear food that bears will guard and defend against other scavengers or humans. Dead ungulates will attract and hold many bears near the carcass site. It is risky to approach a carcass; many bears may be bedded nearby just out of sight. Leave the immediate area by the same route you approached the carcass from. Report all carcasses to the nearest ranger station or visitor center.

— A Civil Engineering Landmark —

Stay with your gear

Don’t leave your packs, lunches, food or beverages unattended as they may attract and hold bears at the site. If you surprise a bear that’s eating your stashed food, you may lose more than your lunch.

(From the National Park Service) Photo courtesy Neal Herbert, National Park Service

Area Information – Exhibits – FREE Wi-Fi Theater – Fantastic Views – RV Parking

BUFFALO BILL DAM VISITOR CENTER www.bbdvc.com • 307.527.6076

6 miles west of Cody • On the road to Yellowstone ON THE ROAD » PAGE 31

I T T O !

G S ’ R G I B . . .

G N I H T Y N A T A L M OS Complete Wrangler Outfitter

Clothing Department

HONDA

EU2000i Generator

$99900

SPORTING GOODS

by Federal, Eagle Claw, Daiwa, Ruger, Panther Martin, Outdoor Edge, Leatherman, Smith & Wesson, Remington and Winchester

Tools & Hardware

by Stanley, Allied Tool, DeWalt and Quality Nut & Bolt.

Automotive Parts sku391418

by Fram, Pennzoil, Havoline, Autolite, Quaker State, STP & Turtle Wax.

If you forgot something ... We probably have it!

It’s like ten stores under one roof!

CAMPING SUPPLIES YETI Coolers, Rubbermaid Coolers, Rayovac Flashlights & Batteries, Honda Generators & Much More!

POWELL • 307-754-9521 455 South Absaroka

Hours: Mon-Sat------ 7:30am-6pm Sunday-----------10:00am-4:30pm

VISIT US ONLINE : W W W.LINTONSBIGR .COM PAGE 32 »

ON THE ROAD